Indian Open snooker: Rhys Clark knocks out Pankaj Advani

Scottish amateur Rhys Clark broke Indian hearts by ousting national champion Pankaj Advani 4-3 in a thrilling wild card round of the Indian Open world ranking snooker tournament here on Tuesday. Clark, only 20, sank the black in the centre pocket to close out the match that lasted over two hours and completed a fine win. Advani's defeat meant that all the six Indian wild cards failed to make it to the 64-player main draw.

Earlier, Dharmendra Lilly, Sumit Talwar, Neeraj Kumar, Faisal Khan and Brijesh Damani tasted defeats leaving Aditya Mehta, who had qualified as a direct entry, as the sole Indian in the 300,000 pounds tournament.

The Indian hopes now rest on 29-year old Mehta, ranked 49th with the Mumbai player scheduled play his first round match against Mark King on Wednesday night.

Advani, the 29-year old from Bengaluru and holder of 12 World titles, never quite struck a good patch and his best moments were in the sixth frame that he took on a run of 72 after the Scot had dominated the early exchanges, marking his presence with breaks of 83 and 75.

In the decider frame, Advani almost sealed the match, but an in-off pink cost him six precious points that eventually led to a tie at 58-all. The black was re-spotted and after a couple of visits, Clark potted the black in the centre-pocket to clinch the issue.

Earlier in the day, Welshman Jamie Jones caused the tournament's first upset by ousting No.20 Liang Yenbo 4-2, winning four frames on the trot after trailing 0-2, while other fancied players made their way into the second round of the main draw.